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This Week in Women: Dior Takes on Feminism

Some things change, some things stay the same. This week, Trump went on a sexist Twitter tirade (again?! Si señor!), Dior made history, and California’s lawmakers did a whole lot of good (and a little bit of bad) to fight rape culture. It’s another this week in women: the assert yourself edition!

Trump Tweets About Sex Tape

Everyone’s (least) favorite reality TV personality/presidential candidate was up late yesterday, angrily tweeting the night away. Stars: they’re just like us! Except, you know, most of us 1) aren’t running for president, and 2) aren’t raging misogynists.

Anyway, the Donald tweeted up a storm about two of his favorite female nemeses: “Crooked” Hillary Clinton and Alicia “Miss Piggy” Machado.

Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con.

By this point, you’re probably more than familiar with Trump’s Twitter tirades and with his incessant sexist vitriol disguised as criticisms of Clinton’s policies. Alicia Machado, however, may not ring a bell to those of you who weren’t old enough to catch the 1996 Miss Universe pageant. A primer:

Venezuelan-born Machado was the first woman to win the coveted pageant title after Trump purchased Miss Universe, Inc. in 1996. The following year, he (or his ghostwriter? who knows) described her as “plump” in his book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback. Machado later claimed that Trump called her “Miss Piggy” because of her weight and “Miss Housekeeping” because of her heritage. Real stand-up guy, that Trump.

At Monday’s amazing shit storm of a debate, Clinton unsurprisingly called Trump out. “Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado, and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”

Trump’s response? Tell his Twitter followers all about Machado’s sex tape (that doesn’t exist), and how it makes her a bad person (which it wouldn’t, even if a tape existed).

WHEN. WILL. IT. END?

Dior: We Should All Be Feminists

Feminism has been cool for a while, and Dior’s first female creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is very on-trend. Her SS17 collection, which she showed at Paris Fashion Week, featured a t-shirt that read “We Should All Be Feminists.” The girl wearing it on the runway, it should also be noted, walked out to Beyoncé’s “Flawless.”

The clothing is, frankly, less important than the woman behind it. Chiuri, the first female creative director in Dior’s history, is one of just a handful of female creative directors who’s showing in Paris. According to the New York Times, less than 20 percent of the brands showing at Paris Fashion Week this year have women creative directors—and almost all the clothing being displayed is for women.

This doesn’t mean the fashion industry is anywhere close to being fully equitable, but we can’t deny that it’s a huge step.

Dior SS17.

California’s New Rape Legislation

California Governor Jerry Brown passed a law eliminating the state’s ten-year statute of limitations on rape cases, which is a pretty huge deal for women who may not have initially felt comfortable seeking justice against their rapists. Brown also signed a bill expanding the state’s legal definition of rape to include all non-consensual sexual assault, which will hopefully eliminate further arguments on whether or not sexual assault that isn’t technically sex (e.g., forced oral sex) constitutes rape.

Brown also signed legislation that imposed mandatory minimum sentences on some sexual assault crimes in response to the absurdly light sentence Brock Turner received after being convicted on three counts of felony assault. In theory, this sounds great: rapists should be punished, right?

Yes, sort of.

The expansion of mandatory minimums is not an inherently good thing—despite “punishing” rapists, it also contributes to the prison-industrial complex. As Jezebel points out, both feminist groups and the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that the bill would disproportionately affect marginalized groups.

Instead of (or, for the time being, in addition to) passing punitive laws, local governments should work to combat rape culture at the root: by educating young boys and girls (and their parents) on the matter. Until then, this is unfortunately all we’ve got.

Images via sky27.ddns.net, Vogue, and Getty Images.

Stay tuned to Milk for more of This Week in Women and check out our previous installments here.